I Watch The All Star Game

For the most part, All Star Games are pretty lame. However, I must admit that every July I find myself getting sucked into the MLB All Star Game as well as the surrounding festivities. There are probably a variety of reasons for this, enough to warrant a list of sorts:

-Players in the MLB All Star Game wear their respective team's uniforms. Not sure why exactly this is awesome, but it is.

-The game counts for home-field advantage in the World Series. Sure, it's a lame gimmick, but it has enhanced the competition in the game and players now play for more than a couple inning. New York Mets centerfielder Carlos Beltran played for all nine innings last year, making it the first time a starter had finished the game in about 20 years or so.

-Something I just learned today is that since his first All Star Game in 2001, Mariners rightfielder Ichiro Suzuki has given a pregame speech laced with profanities every year, which is not shocking so much in how lewd it is, but in how players are unaware that Ichiro knew that much english. You can read all about it here.

-For one night, it's the only gig in town (i.e. there are no other baseball games on so what else am I going to watch?).

So that's a just a brief list of reasons I find myself watching every year. While I'm here though, I see no reason not to rank the All Star Games from each major sport:

4. NFL Pro Bowl: Introduce me to someone who has watched more than three minutes of this joke of an event and I'll reintroduce you to a liar. Nobody watches the Pro Bowl. Nobody.

3. NHL All Star Game: Only doesn't finish last because the Pro Bowl is so awful. Also, hockey fans claim it's good.

2. NBA All Star Game: Occasionally the game itself is entertaining, but more importantly, the other festivities during the weekend are usually pretty solid. While the dunk contest is usually hit or miss, between that and the three point contest you can usually find some decent entertainment the night before the game.

1. MLB All Star Game: Only All Star game that actually means anything. If you need more reasons see above.